Request By:
R. Bruce Lankford
Associate Counsel
Office of Legal Counsel
University of Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky 40506
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Robert L. Chenoweth, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You have asked the Office of the Attorney General for an opinion concerning the University's parking program. You have informed us, in part by way of a memorandum to you from the University's Director of the Public Safety Division, that due in part to the current rubberized construction of automobile bumpers it has become increasingly more difficult to place the University parking stickers on these bumpers. This has caused an increased clerical and enforcement problem for the University.
In light of the above background, you have asked whether there is any statute or other provision which would preclude the University from requiring the parking sticker to be placed on the windshield of a motor vehicle. It is our opinion the University could, by appropriate regulation, require a window of a motor vehicle to be the designated place for the display of the University parking sticker.
You brought to our attention KRS 189.110(1) which reads as follows:
"No person shall drive any motor vehicle with any sign, poster or other nontransparent material upon the front windshield, sidewings, side or rear windows of the vehicle, other than a paper required to be so displayed by law."
However, we do not believe this statute is an absolute legal impediment to a window sticker display. This Office in OAG 64-286, copy attached, considered an issue similar to that you have presented in connection with the display of a city license sticker on the windshield. We concluded in that opinion that since a city had the authority to require city license stickers for parking permits by ordinance, then such a provision would fall within the "other than a paper required to be so displayed by law" exception found in KRS 189.110(1).
In view of KRS 164.975, which authorizes the University to regulate traffic and parking on the campus, we are of the opinion the University, through appropriate regulation, would be within the law in requiring window parking decals rather than the bumper stickers.
If we may be of further assistance to you concerning this matter, please contact us.